RIO OLYMPICS: Chris Walker-Hebborn out in semi-final

Russell Claydon

Chris Walker-Hebborn saw his dream of an Olympic medal in Rio end in the semi-final of the men’s 100m backstroke this morning.

The Bury St Edmunds-raised swimmer finished sixth in his semi-final with only the fastest eight across two heats progressing to tomorrow morning’s final.

Walker-Hebborn swam 53.75 seconds which was 1.26 seconds behind the heat and overall leader Ryan Murphy from the USA and 0.41 seconds away from the final qualification spot. Overall, the former King Edward VI School pupil ended 11th out of the 16 semi-finalists.

The 26-year-old had swum a season best time to get through his opening qualifying heat earlier in the day.

He booked his place in the last 16 with a time of 53.54 seconds in heat four — 0.19 seconds quicker than the time which won him gold at the British Swimming Championships — to finish third.

Walker-Hebborn, who won European and Commonwealth gold in the event in 2014, had the 10th best time out of the 16 qualifiers.